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8.34pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
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Are we talking about who dominated with the songwriting? Or who had the best performances? If we’re going by songwriting, it’s pretty well known that John dominated until he got too addled by pot and LSD and Yoko and then Paul took the reins. Put Revolver down as the inflection point. In terms of performances and overall impact on an album, that’s where you can get a bit more varied.
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6.36pm
9 May 2012
Offline Well he didn’t really dominated, neither was Paul stronger later. At least for me, on every album they are pretty much a tie with some exceptions.
Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.
11.46am
26 March 2012
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I initially gave AHDN to John by “miles”, but I’ve re-evaluated a bit. Although John is clearly the dominant songwriter, it would be unfair to deny Paul the fact that his three contributions (And I Love Her , Can’t Buy Me Love and Things We Said Today ) are all superb and all rank among the best on the record. In terms of songwriting, Paul is miles more accomplished on it than on With The Beatles and for the first time finds more of an individual creative voice. Plus When I Get Home is notoriously weak and I’ve never been fond of I’ll Cry Instead , so…
Please Please Me : John
With The Beatles : John
A Hard Day’s Night : John/Paul equally
Beatles For Sale : John. Paul’s got some very underrated songs on this record, namely I’ll Follow The Sun and What You’re Doing , but it opens with a Lennon triple knockout which defines the album to me.
Help !: John
Rubber Soul : John by a hair. I think I’d say John was at his absolute peak on this one, breaking a lot of new ground lyrically and musically, but Paul’s extremely close behind in terms of pure pop craftsmanship.
Revolver : Paul by a hair. John and George’s more psychedelic contributions are all top-quality but Paul’s balladry and baroque style adds a lot of progression and diversity to the mix.
Sgt Pepper : Paul, mainly for the groundbreaking concept and all the hard work he put into masterminding the record, plus his absolutely unmatchable bass playing throughout. But I must admit, the finest moments are when John’s presence is felt largely (mainly Lucy and ADitL).
Magical Mystery Tour : Paul
The White Album : Very hard to decide… John? I don’t understand people who nominate George, obviously While My Guitar is godly and I am fond of Long Long Long; but Piggies and Savoy Truffle are very weak compared to the absolute majority of John and Paul’s stuff here.
Abbey Road : I’m tempted to say Paul because of the medley and stuff, but George came into his own so much at this point that I think I’d give it to George.
Let It Be : Paul
SHUT UP - Paulie's talkin'
3.59pm
8 November 2012
Offline Ben Ramon said
Plus When I Get Home is notoriously weak
It’s interesting to hear it has a reputation for being weak, because that’s been one of my favorite songs on AHDN since childhood. I was so blown away by the spirited intro, and it always brings back good memories of bopping along to the cartoon singalong.
Abbey Road : I’m tempted to say Paul because of the medley and stuff, but George came into his own so much at this point that I think I’d give it to George.
Absolutely agreed.
parlance
12.38pm
26 March 2012
Offline parlance said
Ben Ramon said
Plus When I Get Home is notoriously weakIt’s interesting to hear it has a reputation for being weak, because that’s been one of my favorite songs on AHDN since childhood. I was so blown away by the spirited intro, and it always brings back good memories of bopping along to the cartoon singalong.
It’s certainly a great rocker musically and I like the way it kicks in, but the lyrics are really banal and seem like a totally inferior and less interesting rewrite of the sentiments in AHDN : “I’m gonna love her til the cows come home.” It’s not awful per se, but I’d call it the worst track on the record.
SHUT UP - Paulie's talkin'
4.53pm
8 November 2012
Offline Ben Ramon said
“I’m gonna love her til the cows come home.”
Oh, yeah, that I will agree is not their best moment.
I think in general I’ve been more forgiving of the lyrics in their earlier music as long as I’ve enjoyed the melody/beat.
parlance
6.45pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline I do like the use of the word “trivialities” in When I Get Home and Ringo’s thumping drums and heavy cowbell but its total filler.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
2.39pm
10 August 2011
Offline Ben Ramon said, “I initially gave AHDN to John by “miles”, but I’ve re-evaluated a bit. Although John is clearly the dominant songwriter, it would be unfair to deny Paul the fact that his three contributions (And I Love Her , Can’t Buy Me Love and Things We Said Today ) are all superb and all rank among the best on the record.“
Glad to see at least one person agrees with me (see post 11 on page 1 of this thread).
"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)
6.35pm
9 February 2012
Offline Drake 42681 said
Please Please Me – PaulWith The Beatles – John
A Hard Days Night – John
Beatles For Sale – John
Help ! – TIE Paul and John
Rubber Soul – John
Revolver – John Paul and George Tied For 2nd
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band – Paul
Magical Mystery Tour – John
The White Album – TIE Paul and George
Yellow Submarine – George
Abbey Road – George
Let It Be – Paul
John 6 alone/13 1 Tie/13
Paul 3 alone/13 2 Ties/13
George 2 alone/13 1 Tie/13
Ringo 0/13
yeah, this sounds about right to me.
"'I Dig a Pygmy', by Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aids... Phase One, in which Doris gets her oats!"
11.33pm
29 September 2012
Offline Please Please Me : Lennon
With the Beatles: Lennon (this and for the former for the obvious reason)
A Hard Day’s Night : Lennon, followed closely by McCartney with his three great early songs; but most of them were GREAT Lennon songs
Beatles For Sale : McCartney (I’ll Follow The Sun is one of his best)
Help !: Lennon (he has more hits on this one, with Help !, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (the best), You’re Gonna Lose That Girl, and Ticket To Ride )
Rubber Soul : Lennon (three masterpieces in one overshadow McCartney’s and Harrison’s OK songs. His Norwegian Wood , Nowhere Man , Girl and In My Life keep this album from being overrated, because not many of the others are greats songs. Ironic that Lennon also has the worst song on here, Run For Your Life .)
Revolver : McCartney – though Lennon/Harrison also turn in great work, this is the peak of McCartney’s songwriting. Nowhere else did he have so many great songs on one album (Eleanor Rigby , Here There And Everywhere , Good Day Sunshine , For No One , Got To Get You Into My Life ).
Sgt. Pepper ‘s Lonely Hearts Club Band: Harrison – I think Within You Without You is the first truly great Harrison song, a full-blown Indian composition latent with indulgent sounds that captivate the mind and spirit, even more than Lennon’s simply experimental trippy songs) And since there is no big amount of great songs from Lennon or McCartney, Harrison wins.
Magical Mystery Tour : Lennon – Penny Lane aside, all other McCartney compositions are pure drivel crap, with no thought put into the lyrics, even though the melodies are still wonderful for the most part. But pit against Lennon’s brilliant rhyme I Am The Walrus , the enigmatic Strawberry Fields Forever and the soulful mantra All You Need Is Love , they are no match.
Yellow Submarine : Harrison – by default, because he did most of it
The Beatles (Part 1): Harrison – all he needed was that masterpiece While My Guitar Gently Weeps (the best song on the entire album), but the clever Baroque-influenced satire of Piggies doesn’t hurt either
The Beatles (Part 2): Lennon – I defend Revolution 9 for its ambition, and it isn’t meant to be catchy or meaningful, but just an exercise in avant-garde. But Lennon has some of his greatest late hard rock here (Yer Blues , Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey ), and the souring Sexy Sadie , plus the understated melancholy Cry Baby Cry .
Let It Be : Lennon – Across The Universe is a masterpiece on a very flawed album, a standout, pure and simple, deep and true, only a little altered by the overblown Spector production. McCartney’s soulful contributions were destroyed.
Abbey Road : Harrison – although Lennon has some more incredible offerings, Harrison, with his two breakthrough songs Something and Here Comes The Sun , shows the most growth as an artist
11.39pm
6 December 2012
Offline
Yes.
Also known as Egg-Rock, Egg-Roll, E-George, Eggy, Ravioli, Eggroll Eggrolli...
~witty quote~
4.56pm
12 January 2013
Offline Please Please Me John
With the Beatles John and George
A Hard Days Night John
Beatles For Sale John
Help John
Rubber Soul John
Revoler Paul
Sgt Pepper Paul
The Beatles John
Yellow Submarine George
Abbey Road George
Let it Be Paul
John wins of course
The Incedibly True Story THat Never Ends. By Sam.
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Me: The Beatles
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1.13am
28 January 2013
Offline Sounds fun.
Please Please Me – John
John had great vocals, and great songs in the album, not to mention their first No. 1 Please Please Me in the album and as the title.
With The Beatles – John
John once again had great vocals such as in Money, and great songwriting.
A Hard Day’s Night – John
John had most of the songwriting done in this album. He wrote 9 songs, and co wrote 1 with Paul. He also sang in 11 songs including lead and backing vocals.
Beatles For Sale – Paul
Paul had more great songs like I’ll Follow The Sun , and has a great vocal in Kansas City . Had Leave My Kitten Alone been included John would probably beat Paul, or tie with him.
Help ! – John
Again John took the lead role in songwriting, and vocals, writing 4 songs that made the film, and a few that made the second side.
Rubber Soul – John
Nowhere Man , and In My Life highlighted the album, with Girl and The Word standed closeby. However I am disatisfied with Run For Your Life , and a little bit of Norwegian Wood
Revolver – Paul
Paul began to lead The Beatles here. His songwriting grew with For No One , and Here There And Everywhere . John and George followed closely, because of Lennon’s expirimental music, and George’s guitar playing and songwriting.
Sgt. Pepper ‘s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Paul
Paul leading the group wrote most the songs on Pepper. John’s songs were okay too, however some were banned from the BBC for drug references as we all know
Magical Mystery Tour – Paul
Another one of Paul’s ideas, John and George contributed one song on the first side of the LP, while Paul wrote the rest. (Not counting Flying .) The second side was dominated by both John and Paul.
The Beatles (Pt. 1) – George
George’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps set the bar pretty high up for the group. Piggies helped too.
The Beatles (Part 2.) – John
John I guess dominates here. Sexy Sadie Cry Baby Cry , Yer Blues , and Everybody’s Got Something To Hide were good.
Yellow Submarine – George
Yellow Submarine was the album in which George had more orignal songs than the others. Yellow Submarine , and All You Need Is Love have been released before, All Together Now , and Hey Bulldog are the only new Lennon-McCartney songs on the album, and George’s songs are my favorite songs of his, the album, and are pretty high up in my favorite Beatles songs list.
Abbey Road – Paul
Though i orignally listed George for his most famous songs, I switched to Paul for his Abbey Road Medely on side 2 with him writing a majority of the songs. John departing his group was very little involved at the end of this album.
Let It Be – Paul
Another one of Paul’s ideas. Paul even got the album name of it.
Poor Ringo, didn’t get a spot 
John: 6/13
Paul: 6/13
George: 2/13
Ringo: 0/13
Almost sounds like how much a typical Beatles album songlist is written.
And if you saw my love, I'll love her to.
7.38pm
16 January 2011
Offline After reading through everyones posts I found this to be one of the more interesting discussions. I usually just read posts and dont comment unless I feel like I can really contribute to the discussion with something meaningful. That said, I am always looking for the opinion of other true fans of The Beatles. As far as strongest Beatle per album, its hard to argue with the majority of what I saw. The one thing that stood out to me and wasnt really discussed was the overwhelming opinion for Paul as the strongest Beatle on Magical Mystery Tour .
If were talking about he first 6 tracks (associated with the film) MMT, The Fool On The Hill , Flying , Blue Jay Way , Your Mother Should Know , and I Am The Walrus . I agree Paul has a stronger contribution. However if were talking about the American release with the singles, I have to say John has it quite easily.
I Am The Walrus , Strawberry Fields Forever , Baby youre a rich man, and All You Need Is Love . With the these four songs I cant see how Paul would have it so easily, TFOTH, YMSK and Penny Lane are great songs but IMO arent as solid as SFF or BYARM, much less the complex sound and lyrics of I Am The Walrus .
Magical Mystery Tour is a favorite album of mine. The first 6 tracks I feel represent more of a concept album than Pepper (I do recognize that MMT isnt an album). For those who thought or still think Paul has the stronger contribution on that album Id like to know the rationale behind that.
"If everyone practiced being themselves instead of pretending to be what they aren't, there would be peace"-JL
3.58pm
5 November 2011
Offline Baby, You’re a Rich Man is not all John. I don’t consider the US version of MMT a Beatles album. They just put a bunch of previously released songs at the end of the UK MMT, I guess so people could go out and buy something they only need half of, but have to pay for the whole thing anyways.
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8.28pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline The US MMT was issued as there wasnt a market in America for EP’s. Capitol got permission to add the remain ’67 a and b sides to the British ep tracks for their own album. As for the rip-off of buying songs again well the US fans had been doing that since the start of ’64.
Personally i dont like the album that much as many on side 1 arent that good.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
2.01am
18 October 2013
Offline Just came across this thread.
What a good one it is. Mostly people agree. John early……..Paul ‘Revolver ‘……And only just on ‘Sergeant Pepper’, ( John’s ‘LSD’ and ‘A Day…) are so important to that album but it’s Paul’s baby. Evens on ‘White Album ‘…..George a late charge but I still give Paul ‘Abbey Road ‘ and ‘Let it Be’.
Thing is no complete knock-out blow by any of them……even on ‘AHDN ‘……John Paul and George all had crucial contributions in turn throughout.
6.49pm
1 November 2012
Offline A barely possible challenge (where I find that the “Your Favorite Beatles Song” type is simply humanly impossible to answer). I’ll take a stab at it so tentatively provisional, the victim may not even need ER attention (he said with an oddly macabre twist of humor):
Rubber Soul : John
Sergeant Pepper: Paul (notwithstanding “A Day In The Life “)
White Album : Paul by a nose
Abbey Road : Paul
The early pre-Rubber Soul albums are too much an amalgam of John and Paul to be able to wrest a clear winner. I’d say the same for Revolver .
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6.56pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Offline Ok, here goes:
PPM : Paul
WTB: John
AHDN : John
BFS: John and Paul together
H!: John or George
RS: John and Paul tied
R: Paul but only by a whisker
SPLHCB : Paul by a mile
MMT: if we’re talking the original UK EP, Paul. If we’re going by the US LP with the added singles and B-sides, John
WA: Paul
YS: only by the “new” songs? John for Hey Bulldog alone
LIB : Paul
AR: George
"I know you, you know me; one thing I can tell you is you got to be free!"
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8.30pm
10 November 2009
Offline Please Please Me : John (Paul is close though).
With The Beatles : John again (though Paul has All My Loving & Till There Was You here, and those are classics).
A Hard Day’s Night : Obviously John (probably the album with more John than anybody, though Paul is not behind with all his three leads – All My Loving , Can’t Buy Me Love , Things We Said Today ).
Beatles For Sale : John & Paul. (Both are equal here, singing together in Baby’s In Black , Eight Day’s A Week, Words Of Love & I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party ).
Help !: John by a hair. (Paul has an almost equivalent force, with Yesterday being his strongest up to this point, but John dominates with Help ! and Ticket To Ride .)(Also George contributes with two songs here, very underrated, especially I Need You ).
Rubber Soul : John again by a hair (Paul has Michelle but John goes with Norwegian Wood , Nowhere Man and In My Life , but George also comes up with two songs, better than the previous album, Think For Yourself & If I Needed Someone which was the only song from him to be played live with The Beatles, and contributed the sitar on Norwegian Wood a key element of its success. Ringo, for the first time, contributes lyrically, on What Goes On ).
Revolver : All four of them. John & Paul had an equal amount of songs contributed. (John: I’m Only Sleeping , She Said She Said , And Your Bird Can Sing , Doctor Robert , Tommorow Never Knows) (Paul: Eleanor Rigby , Here There And Everywhere , Good Day Sunshine , For No One , Got To Get You Into My Life ). George peaks here with 3 songs (Taxman , Love You To , I Want To Tell You ), and Ringo, though not song contributions, gave his best drum performances up to that point (Taxman , She Said She Said , Good Day Sunshine , And Your Bird Can Sing , Got To Get You Into My Life , Tommorow Never Knows) sang in Yellow Submarine (not a favorite here on the forum but very popular with everyone I know), contributed a line in Eleanor Rigby , and gave the title for the closer song of the album.)
Sgt. Pepper ‘s Lonely Hearts Club Band: Paul, it was his idea. (Although John drastically reduced his writing production, his songs are the better ones (Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds , Being For The Benefit For Mr. Kite!, Good Morning Good Morning – obviously the weakest song on Pepper but even so has a catchy and complex rhythm – and A Day In The Life – their best song.) (George, because he was so disinterested, he contributed two songs, but only one got in, Within You Without You , which is a masterpiece). (Ringo gives his best drumming with A Day In The Life , but Good Morning Good Morning is also extraordinary.)
Magical Mystery Tour : The UK (EP) version, Paul. The US version, John, as he has the more legendary songs (I Am The Walrus , Strawberry Fields Forever & All You Need Is Love ).
The Beatles (The White Album ): John mainly. He had the more interesting songs like Dear Prudence , Happiness Is A Warm Gun , I’m So Tired , Yer Blues , Revolution 1 & 9. Paul had also his share like: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da , Blackbird , Birthday , Mother Nature’s Son & Helter Skelter . However, George also got strong here with his immortal While My Guitar Gently Weeps , and his other three contributions, although not as legendary, they are great. Ringo finally has a song of his own here, pretty good one, though seems to be dismissed here in the forum.
Yellow Submarine : George Martin. 
Let It Be : Paul. John had Across The Universe and he is together with One After 909 , but Paul has Two Of Us , Let It Be , I’ve Got A Feeling , The Long And Winding Road & Get Back . George is not behind with I Me Mine & For You Blue .
Abbey Road : George. His two songs are masterpieces and better than Lennon’s & McCartney’s material, even though John has Come Together & Because and Paul has Oh! Darling . Even Ringo surpasses the medley material with his Octopus’s Garden .
Final score (counting the EP of Mystery Tour only):
John: 8/13
Paul: 5/13 
George: 2/13 
Ringo: 1/13 
George Martin: 1/13
Winner: John. 
Let me take you down 'cause I'm going to...Strawberry Fields.
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